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Kant's Transcendental Schematism of the Understanding Krasimira Dimitrova Filcheva a Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Un Kant’s Transcendental Schematism of the Understanding Krasimira Dimitrova Filcheva A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the department of Philosophy Chapel Hill 2013 Approved by: Alan Nelson Robert M. Adams Thomas Hill Abstract KRASIMIRA FILCHEVA: Kant’s Transcendental Schematism of the Understanding (Under the direction of Alan Nelson) In the Schematism chapter in the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant introduces a key element in his analysis of experience – the transcendental schema that mediates the application of the categories to phenomenal objects. In this paper, I seek to develop an interpretation of the doctrine of the schematism with a view to solving three significant problems that arise for that part of the critical system. I show the systematic unity of Kant’s various descriptions of the nature of the transcendental schemata and their connection to the preceding deductions, thereby dispelling a possible charge of obscurity. I demonstrate how Kant’s doctrine can withstand criticism about the apparent lack of justification of his schemata. Finally, I argue that a close study of the original grounds on which Kant introduces the transcendental schematism can remove the threat of regress generated by the demand for homogeneity, which opens this chapter in the Critique. ii To Iliana iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Introduction ...................................................................................................................1 I. The Syntheses of Imagination ...........................................................................4 Transcendental Homogeneity ...........................................................................5 The Nature of the Schema...............................................................................15 Formal Intuitions and Transcendental Schemas .............................................23 A Problem for the Present Interpretation ........................................................34 II. The Demand for a Deduction ..........................................................................44 III. The Regress of Homogeneity..........................................................................53 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................61 iv Introduction Kant's exposition of the transcendental schemas of the categories in the first chapter of the Analytic of Principles is both a crucial part of the system of the first Critique and a notoriously obscure one. The transcendental schemas are described in a variety of ways, which leaves the reader with the task to determine how coherent the different descriptions really are. For example, the transcendental schema is variously characterized as “a transcendental determination of time” (A139/B178), “only the phenomenon, or sensible concept of an object in agreement with the category” (A 146/B186), “a transcendental product of the imagination,which concerns the determination of the inner sense in general, in accordance with conditions of its form (time)” (A142/B181), and as “the formal and pure condition of sensibility to which the concept of understanding is restricted” (A140/B179).1 The following two interrelated questions naturally arise in response to Kant's numerous characterizations of the transcendental schemas. Can we give an explanation of why Kant may have seen the need to offer so many descriptions of the transcendental schemas without imputing any unnecessary obscurity to his discussion? Is there, nonetheless, a privileged conception of the transcendental schemata that is, on the one hand, strongly suggested by the text, and, on the other, suited to preserve the legitimacy of the other characterizations? In the first part of this paper, I am concerned to argue for a positive answer to both of these questions. In broad agreement with Henry Allison on the nature of schemata as determinate 1 In what follows, I address problems surrounding the transcendental schemas specifically. I do not enter into a discussion of the schemas of the pure sensible concepts (e.g. geometrical concepts) except where this is relevant to my discussion. I also remain neutral on whether Kant sees any need for schemas of empirical concepts like “dog” (A141/B181). pure intuitions of time, I show that taking seriously Kant's conception of the schemas as a product or a pure synthesis of the transcendental imagination can offer illuminating connections with the deductions, which often prefigure the Schematism chapter. However, in order to understand Kant's transcendental schematism, it is not sufficient to investigate the nature of the schemas and their role in Kant's analysis of empirical cognition. It is also necessary to understand why Kant chooses to introduce the transcendental schematism in the particular terms he employs. Little in the preceding Deductions seems to foreshadow Kant's concern with homogeneity, which serves as an opening of the Schematism chapter. Unless we seek greater illumination on this question, the character of Kant's account of transcendental schematism cannot be fully revealed. Part of its function may well be obscured. Thus, in addition to the investigation of the schemata, I turn to this clarificatory task in the first section of the paper. Furthermore, in the first section, I also propose an additional constraint on any adequate account of the nature, status, and systematic role of the transcendental schemas in the Critique. Any adequate account of Kant's conception of the schemata should show why, in light of this conception, Kant would not have seen the need for any deduction or justification of the particular schemas he associates with the different categories. The charge that Kant did not offer a deduction or a justification of the particular pairings of categories with their schemas is explicit in Allison's commentary on the Schematism chapter (1981). I also believe it to be implicit in Guyer's (1987). Building on my discussion in the first part of the paper, I show that any demand for such a deduction or, alternatively, any criticism of the particular schemas that Kant associates with the given categories will seem, by Kant's lights, to be largely misplaced. More carefully, I try to expose as erroneous any criticism of Kant 2 that is specifically based on the assumption that the schemas are a kind of conceptual translation of the categories in temporal terms. The account of the schemas I defend meets the above constraint. It gives a plausible explanation of why Kant does not seem to have noticed any need to give a justification of the particular schemas he associates with the different categories. To show this will be the task of the second part of the paper. The second part also prepares the ground for addressing the real problem of the Schematism chapter, as Kant conceived of it. Kant’s notes indicate a different locus of concern, namely a potential threat of unintelligibility of the kind the transcendental schematism was designed to remove. By showing that appearances and categories are, in the final analysis, homogeneous, thereby giving an answer to the problem that opens the Schematism chapter, Kant also seems to leave his account vulnerable to a threat of regress. Insofar as the transcendental schemas are introduced to demonstrate the ultimate, though mediated, homogeneity between appearance and category, one is bound to ask how it is that the transcendental schemas and categories can be homogeneous in the first place. Must a third mediating representation be introduced to ensure that? If there is a genuine threat of regress, it will be difficult to see how Kant can avoid it. The third and final part of the paper seeks to address this problem. 3 I. Syntheses of the Imagination First, it is important to understand Kant’s choice to formulate the problem treated in the Schematism chapter in terms of the alleged heterogeneity between the categories, on the one hand, and the empirical intuitions of objects (as appearances), on the other. The notion of homogeneity shapes the general character of Kant’s discussion. The solution of the original problem that Kant sets out in the opening lines of the chapter is supposed to emerge when it becomes clear that the pure concepts and the appearances are in fact homogeneous, given the mediating schemas, contrary to the initial assumption.2 The transcendental schematism of the understanding, which Kant develops in the subsequent paragraphs, must in turn demonstrate how that is possible. How we should understand Kant’s demand for homogeneity of representations and what is the relevant notion of homogeneity that operates in the background of his discussion is not at all clear. Yet, Kant’s choice to frame his investigation in these terms must be taken seriously. Accordingly, an adequate analysis of the transcendental schematism must clarify the notion of homogeneity and its function in Kant’s investigation. Before examining the nature of the transcendental schemas, we should turn to this task of clarification. 2 In general, I will freely substitute “appearance” for the “empirical intuition of the appearance” when speaking of the relation of homogeneity between category and appearance/intuition. It is clear that Kant takes appearances to be mediately homogeneous with categories via their respective representations, whether conceptual or intuitive. For example,
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